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Learn Perfect Pitch With a Pill

A new study has found that an FDA approved drug called valproate can essentially retrain the brain, allowing adults with little or no musical training to acquire some degree of absolute…or perfect…pitch. This is the ability to pick out and sing and name a note with no reference point. CNET.com reports that the drug…which is normally used to treat epileptic seizures, migraines, and manic episodes…reopens the critical learning period, normally gone after young childhood, for absolute pitch. Researchers are now moving on to see if the drug will have a similar effect on learning other information and tasks. It’s not quite a ‘smart pill,’ but appears to be a step in that direction. As an aside…most musicians would call this relative perfect pitch…actual perfect pitch seems not to be learned, one is born with it!